The Scientific American published another attack on cold fusion, Ouellette, J., Genie in a Bottle: The Case Against Cold Fusion, in Scientific American. 2012. The author ignores the scientific literature and looks instead at movies, popular culture and mythology surrounding the 1989 announcement. She concludes that cold fusion does not exist.

In the on-line discussion of this article, the author allowed only skeptical arguments against cold fusion. She erased all rebuttals, and all messages supporting it, including: proof that many scientists support the research; that the effect has been widely replicated; and that over a thousand peer-reviewed papers on the subject have been published in mainstream journals. Finally, she erased messages quoting the editors of the Scientific American, and a message saying that peer-reviewed replicated experiments are the standard of truth in experimental science, which cited the Chairman of the Indian AEC and other distinguished scientists.

To paraphrase Marx, the opposition to cold fusion began as a tragedy and it is ending as a farce.

Edmund Storms wrote this response to this column:

The scientific proof supporting the claims made by Fleischmann and Pons is now overwhelming. This is not the opinion of a “handful of diehard supporters” but of several major universities and corporations. The information is easily obtained at LENR.org and in many books written about the history and the science. We are no longer in 1990 when the claims were in doubt and many people attempted to replicate them, some with success. Many of the reasons for success and failure are now known. An explanation for the phenomenon is being developed and claims are being demonstrated for commercial-level power. Surely a writer for a magazine as important as Scientific American would know these facts and not continue using the myth that was created before the facts were known.

The author first erased it, but later restored it, adding, “With all due respect to Dr. Storms, I stand by my post.” She erased several messages from many different contributors. Here are two by Jed Rothwell:

If you are going to quote Robert Park, it seems to me you owe it to your audience to quote him when he brags publicly that he has never read a single paper. That is what he has said, repeatedly. He said it to a large crowd of people at the APS. If you do not believe me, ask him yourself. It is misleading to quote him as some sort of expert when he brags about the fact that he knows nothing.

The editors of the Scientific American also told me that they have read no papers on this subject, because ‘reading papers is not our job.’ Their assertions about cold fusion are also technically wrong. I published their comments here: http://lenr-canr.org/wordpress/?p=294

[Quoting a skeptical attack] Cude wrote: “I’m not aware of a single major university that has expressed the opinion that evidence for the claims of P&F is overwhelming.”

Hundreds of other distinguished experts in nuclear physics and other related disciplines have said they are certain cold fusion is real. They know this because they have conducted experiments and detected the reaction at high signal to noise ratios, and their experiments have survived rigorous peer-review. That is the only way anyone ever knows anything for sure in science. Replicated, high sigma experiments are the only standard of truth.

On August 6 – 9 National Instrument held its annual global conference on graphical system design, NIWeek 2012.

NI’s cofounder, President, and CEO, Dr. James Truchard kicked off the week with a 19-minute presentation, available on YouTube. Starting at minute 15, he described NI’s projects relating to cold fusion. He was strongly supportive of cold fusion. He pointed out that several leading cold fusion researchers are attending the conference.

These researchers gave presentations during the conference, which were reportedly well received. Francesco Celani, of Frascati Lab. ENEA, brought a demonstration cell to the conference which was left running the entire time, apparently producing excess heat. Celani will bring the demonstration to ICCF17 next week. He has written a new paper about it for ICCF17.

Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) offer the prospect of clean, inexpensive, limitless, nonfossil renewable energy. The symposium will review LENR’s current theoretical and experimental status, including updating recent results. Expert panel discussions will evaluate the present state of the art and define future directions, including establishment of criteria for creating university-based, state-of-the-art LENR research and development centers.

Edmund Storms has written a new edition of A Student’s Guide to Cold Fusion. This is one of our most popular papers, first introduced in 2003. Here is the Abstract:

“Evidence supporting cold fusion (LENR) is summarized and requirements an explanation must take into account are justified. A plausible nuclear-active-environment is identified by ruling out various possibilities and by identifying an environment that is common to all methods used to produce LENR. When this environment is combined with a plausible mechanism, many testable predictions result. These insights and proposals are offered to help clarify understanding of LENR and to suggest future studies.”